Horseshoe Falls.....

....Niagara, which I missed out from yesterday's post.

Still going.....

.....and, ten days on, I've made it as far as Ottawa.

I left Vancouver on The Canadian train which took me, in four days, across the country to Toronto. Through the Rockies, over the prairies and through verdant, fertile Ontario. Cloud in the mountains meant that the views were too lacking in contrast for any decent photographs but there were some stunning views.

The prairies, really the bread-basket of the country were vast; coming from our small island, I'm still struggling with the vastness of this astonishing country. Until we turned south towards Toronto and Lake Ontario there was snow and ice on every river and lake we saw, to remind us of the harsh winter they endured here.

Although the journey by train was relaxing and enjoyable, the majority of the line is single-track and we had to keep moving onto the sidings to let the freight trains past. There were a lot of these going to the port at Vancouver and they were spectacularly long - I counted 99 wagons on one! These delays added ten hours to our trip and rather took the edge off it.

After getting off at Toronto, I went down to Hamilton to stay with a friend who I originally made contact with though our shared family history (I knew I could get genealogy in this post somehow!). She took me out and about, most memorably to Niagara (photo below, hopefully). A few days with her and now I'm in Ottawa, prior to moving on to Montreal in the morning.

More soon.

If it's Friday, it must be......

So, physically rambling now, rather that just with words...... I'm currently in the awesome Vancouver Public Library.  Or VPL as I keep seeing everywhere around me; those initials mean something else entirely where I come from!

Having arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday after a ten-hour flight, and with an eight-hour time difference, I'm beginning to feel somewhat jet-lagged - particularly as I didn't sleep much last night - so my powers of observation are fading slightly and I shall content myself with whiling away the time on this entry and then, quite frankly, trying to stay awake.

Having been blessed with a couple of days of beautiful weather, and a nephew who works well as a tour-guide, I've seen a fair bit of the city.  I also took a two-hour Trolley Bus tour yesterday afternoon which just hinted at the attractions of the place.  I'm not normally a fan of high buildings but Vancouver has many of them ..... the streets are so wide, though, that there's no feeling of being crowded.

Although not a great fan of heights, I went up the Lookout Tower this morning.  Can't say I enjoyed the elevator (40 seconds in a glass-doored lift) but it was worth it for the stunning views at the top.

All for now; photos next time.  Shall now be working my way east across the country towards the atlantic.

More soon.

The peripatetic lodger....??

From an "Aaaah" moment a couple of entries ago to an "Eugh" moment this time......

Aliases again, to protect the "innocent"......  Way back in the 1840s John stole two bushels of wheat (presumably to feed his family) and, having been apprehended by the long arm of the law, was duly transported for fifteen years.

Ann, his wife, stayed in the village with their five children and appears in the 1851 census with the notation "husband transported".... oh, and with a lodger called John.  By 1861 she's lost the "husband transported" tag.  And still has a lodger called John.  The same John, by the way.  In 1863, dear reader, she married the lodger.  And wouldn't it be nice to think they lived happily ever after.....?

In 1869 Ann's youngest daughter, Hannah, has a daughter and moves away to deepest Lancashire with her.  And then she marries a chap called John who, coincidentally, has the same surname as her mother's erstwhile lodger.

I didn't really connect the two until I entered a newspaper cutting about Ann & John this morning and then thought...."she didn't, surely?".

Oh dear, reader, I do believe she did.  Lodger John, and husband to mother & daughter, does rather seem to be the same person; same age, same place of birth (small village).  Further investigations are required, if only to dispel the mild feeling of queasiness....

More soon.

What's in a name.......?

Now here's a puzzle: I shall use aliases throughout ........

Fred & Ginger, the parents, are not yet married. Ginger is still married to Mr Bloggs but has left him to live with Fred. Divorce proceedings, citing Fred, have not yet been started by Mr Bloggs.

Child One is born to Fred & Ginger and is given three Christian names, the last of which is his mother's maiden name, and Fred's surname.

Child Two, born 18 months later and still before Ginger's divorce, is also given three Christian names. This time, the third one is his father's surname. Child Two's own surname is his mother's current (i.e. married) surname.

Whilst Child Two's name certainly explains why it took me so long to find him, I am curious as to why he didn't get his father's surname. The only possible reason that I can come up with is that Ginger registered his birth and could only prove her own surname, not Fred's.

Pointless speculation, I know, but........

More soon.

Culpin's Agricultural Implements

So there I was, on the bus coming into the bus station at St Ives and I finally realised what a prime site it was.....

The bus station, you see, is on the site of the old cattle market and, from there, you can see the buildings which replaced my great-great grandfather's forge.  So I strode out, in the rain and before I even had a cup of coffee, to check the view from the other side.

The resulting photos are below.  I realise that this might not be terribly exciting  but it was rather a "eureka moment" for me..... :-D

More soon.

 The view from in front of the former forge site

 The site of Culpin's Agricultural Implements business

Running to the rear of the site, this may be an original building

George and Jennie......

It's not often that I stop in the middle of my genealogical-huntings and go "aaah, that's sad" but it happened to me this morning.......

So there I was, probing the new Ancestry search-engine (not good for those of us with dodgy hands, there are far too many keystrokes required) for George Culpin.  The youngest of the five children of Henry Culpin and Caroline, nee Marriott, George was born in Ryhall, Rutland, in 1875.  He doesn't seem to trouble the record-keepers much; growing up in Ryhall he appeared in the census and by 1901 he was a platelayer on the railway.  

On 17th June 1907 he married Mary Jane (Jennie) Chantrey at the parish church, Deeping St James, and they next appeared on the 1911 census in Belmisthorpe.  George is now a foreman platelayer.

Nothing more until Jennie died on 7th March 1954 in the Stamford & Rutland hospital.  I was mildly curious at to why a Jack Culpin suddenly appears to deal with probate, but went back to my search for George.

The "aaah, that's sad" moment came when I discovered that George died just three weeks after Jennie.  Died suddenly, I'm guessing, because it appeared to have happened at someone's house and probate (sorted out by the mysterious Jack Culpin again) is done by Administration (with Will) so maybe George didn't even have enough time to rewrite his Will......

I know this kind of thing probably happened a lot but it just stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds....

More soon.